Ontario Dairy Sheep Association—sheep milk components

Sheep don't make much milk (about 1 litre per day) but their lambs grow at quite a rate, which makes you realise that there must be a lot of nutrition in that little amount!

Sheep milk is higher in protein, fat, calcium, zinc and B-vitamins than other milks.

Content (%) Sheep Goat Cow
Total Solids 18.3 11.2 12.1
Fat 6.7 3.9 3.5
Protein 5.6 2.9 3.4
Lactose 4.8 4.1 4.5
Calories/100g 102    77   73  
Vitamins mg/L
Riboflavin B2 4.3 1.4 2.2
Thiamine 1.2 0.5 0.5
Niacin B1 5.4 2.5 1.0
Pantothenic acid 5.3 3.6 3.4
B6 0.7 0.6 0.5
Folic acid µg/L 0.5 0.06 0.5
B12 0.09 0.007 0.03
Biotin 5.0 4.0 1.7
Minerals mg/100g
Calcium (Ca) 162­259 102­203 110
Phosphorus (P) 82­183 86­118 90
Sodium (Na) 41­132 35­65 58
Magnesium (Mg) 14­19 13­19 11
Zinc (Zn) 0.5­1.2 0.19­0.5 0.3
Iron (Fe) 0.03­0.1 0.01­0.1 0.04
source: British Sheep Dairying Association